The Social Justice Vision at Stephen S. Wise Temple

Our congregation will see Social Justice as a calling that derives from our sense of God and the imperative of Jewish Tradition. The Stephen S. Wise Temple community will use our influence, power and compassion to be a force for positive, meaningful and effective change in the quality of life on behalf of all the citizens of Los Angeles and the world.


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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Can we buck the trend?

I read this article in the Los Angeles Times this morning and recognized that it is one more challenge facing us in our work to transform our congregation into a community devoted to Social Justice and Social Action. We are residents of a city that has a culture that does NOT promote charitable action in the way that many other cities do. How do we as a community work counter culturally to buck the trend? Our Jewish mission to do tikkun olam can, perhaps, provide inspiration and motivation to involve our selves in causes for the welbeing of all our citizens. Dear reader, how strongly does that vision beat in your heart and if so, can you inspire others?

L.A. residents are not the most charitable, study finds

7:16 AM | July 29, 2009-- LA Times

To the woes caused by bad traffic and bad air, Los Angeles can now add a new concern: uncharitable neighbors.

A new study from the Corporation for National and Community Service has found that Los Angeles ranks 45th out of 51 large American cities in the percentage of people who volunteer their time to help their neighbors or communities.

The winners, as in so many other municipal honors, were Minneapolis-St. Paul (ranked No. 1) and Portland, Ore. (No. 2). More than 35% of residents in those cities volunteer their time, compared with 21% in Los Angeles.

Still, the study did identify some bright spots for California, chief among them that from 2007 to 2008, the number of Californians who worked with their neighbors jumped from 1.6 million to 2.2 million.

-- Jessica Garrison

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Health Care Reform

As the health care reform debate continues to move toward resolution in Washington it is important for us to know what the positions of some major religious organizations are.

Click here for the Reform Movement's action initiative.

Click here for the PICO/Sojourners information document. As you'll see, this was endorsed by the United Methodist Church as well as certain Evangelical Associations.